Combination valet and seat



1963 H. GLEITSMAN ETAL 3,100,128

COMBINATION VALET AND SEAT Filed Dec.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2

INVENTQRS HAROLD GLEITSMAN CQRL F U E RST B ATTORNEY 1963 H. GLEITSMANETAL 3,100,128

COMBINATION VALET AND SEAT Filed Dec. 29, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTORS HAROLD GLEITSMAN CARL FUERS ATTORNEY United States Patent3,100,128 COMBINATION VALET AND SEAT Harold Gleitsman, New Rochelle, andCarl Fuerst, Bronx, N.Y., assignors to Gleitsmans, Inc., Long IslandCity, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 29, 1961, Ser. No.163,212 2 Claims. (Cl. 297-190) The present invention relates to acombination silent valet and seat. Silent valets, as is well known, areused by men to support their garments and are usually provided withmeans for supporting the jacket in a neat form, for hanging trousers ina properly folded condition, and also for supporting other wearingapparel, such as shirts, ties, etc.

While silent valets have long been in use they have not been entirelysatisfactory, primarily due to the cumbersome construction andunattractive appearance thereof. In accordance with the presentinvention there is provided a silent valet which cooperates with and hasformed as a detachable part thereof a seat to permit the user to occupythe seat while he is dressing. There is, in accordance with theconstruction of the present invention, a special relationship betweenthe seat part and the silent valet part supported thereby which permitsthe use of the silent valet part free from interference by the seatpart, without rendering the overall construction cumbersome andunattractive.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide acombination silent valet and seat of improved construction.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a combination silentvalet and seat wherein the silent valet part is easily detachable fromthe seat part to permit the latter to be used as an ottoman.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a silentvalet and seat wherein the silent valet is positioned relative to theseat so that the latter does not interfere with the efficient use of thesilent valet part as a support for clothes in a neat manner.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more fully understood from the following descriptionconsidered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the combination silent valet andseat in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view similar to FIG. 2, showing the manner inwhich the various parts forming the invention are disassembled;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the shoe supporting device, which may beused in combination with the invention;

FIG. 6 is a section taken along line 66 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a section taken along line 77 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a section taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary front elevation view of the upper part of amodification of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 10 in FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a front actual use.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral 10identifies the combination silent valet and seat in accordance with theinvention. Provision is made for a seat .12 which may be provided withsuitable padding material and which may be upholstered in suitablefabrics or plastic material. Also, the underside of seat 12 may comprisea backing plate 13 made of wood or any other suitable material. Seat 12is supported by an perspective view of the invention in 3,15%,128Patented Aug. 6, 1863 open base or frame 14, which, as here shown, ispreferably formed in one piece of a length of metal tubing of circularcross section bent into the illustrated configuration. Morespecifically, supporting frame 14 comprises front legs 16, rear legs 18,said front legs being connected to said rear legs, respectively, by apair of lower side connecting parts 20 adapted to rest on a floor. Thefront legs are connected to each other at their upper ends by cross part22. As best shown in FIG. 8, seat 12 is supported at the front partthereof by the cross part 22 to which it is secured in any conventionalmanner, such as by screws 23. A continuous wire 25, bent into theillustrated shape, is welded to tabs 26 which are, in turn, secured tothe underside of seat 12 by means of screws 27. The free opposite ends29 of wire 25 project rearwardly of seat 12 and are inserted intocomplementary apertures in rear legs 18, to which they are secured inany suitable way. Accordingly, it is seen that the seat 12 is firmlysupported on the frame 14. It will be noted, with specific reference toFIGS. 2 and 4, that a clearance is provided between the rear of seat .12and legs 18, such clearance being identified by the numeral 28 and thepurpose of which will be fully explained hereinafter.

The frame 14 which supports seat 12 also defines the means forsupporting the silent valet portion of the present invention. Morespecfifically, there are provided a pair of uprights 30 each of whichconsists of a generally cylindrical elongated member provided at each ofthe opposite ends thereof with a neck portion 32 of reduced diameter.The diameter of said neck portions 32 is substantially equal to theinside diameter of the metal tubing which defines the supporting frame14. Accordingly, an upright 36 is insertable into the open upper end ofeach of the two tubular rear legs 18 whereby said uprights 30, when soinserted, are firmly supported by the frame 14. This is best shown inFIG. 6 where it will be apparent that the longitudinal extent of theneck portion 32 is sufiicient to permit said uprights to be relativelystable when inserted into the tubular rear legs 18. A one-pieceformation 34 made of a length of metal tubing similar to the metaltubing which forms the supporting frame 14 is bent into the illustratedconfiguration to form the upper part of the silent valet of the presentinvention said upper formation 34 comprising a pair of downwardlydiverging portions 36, a pair of downwardly converging portions 38, anda pair of downwardly extending portions 40. The free ends of formation34, i.e. the lower tubular open ends of portions '40, are adapted toreceive upper necks 32 of uprights 30. Upper formation 34 may beprovided with a pair of cross bars 42 and 44 which rigidify the entireconstruction thus preventing the same from being unstable. The apexdefined at the junction of portions 36 may be apertured as at 46 and arod 48 is passed through said aperture and is secured at its bottom endto cross bar 44, by any conventional means such as welding. The upperend of rod 48 terminates into an endless formation 50 of generallyelliptical configuration and disposed in a horizontal plane. If desired,and as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, an additional wire formation 52 may beprovided above formation 54?, being spaced therefrom by means of spacers54. Also, if desired, each side connecting part 20 may be provided witha pair of apertures '56 '(FIG. 7) for receiving a front leg 58 and arear leg 60* of a shoe rack 62 (FIG. 5). Shoe rack 62 is made of wirehaving the same diameter throughout, and as shown in FIG. 5 the rearlegs 60 are taller than front legs 58. Accordingly, when the legs ofracks 62 are inserted in the apertures 56 of frame 14, in the mannershown in FIG. 2, rack 62 will be inclined downwardly and forwardly. Rack62 may be reversed, and in such event it will be inclined downwardly andrearwardly when inserted in the aperture of the frame 14 in the mannershown in FIG. 4.

It is thus seen that the combination silent valet and seat in accordancewith the invention is of simple and economical construction and caneasily be assembled and disassembled for packaging or storage purposes.

FIG. 11 shows the silent valet and seat combination in accordance withthe invention as actual-1y used. Thus it will be seen that a jacket I issupported primarily by upper formation 34. It is important to note thatthe lower front part of the jacket I is disposed in the clearance 28between the rear of seat 12 and rear legs 18. Thus the seat 12 does notinterfere with the neat and natural support of the jacket. This featureis significant in that the absence thereof would cause the jacket to besupported partly by seat 12 and would result in folds or creases formedin the jacket while it was being supported, unless the formation 34 werelocated at a much greater vertical distance from the upper edge of seat12, resulting in an unstable and costlier construction having a far lesspleasant appearance than the subject construction. As further shown inFIG. 11, a pair of trousers T is supported by the elliptical endlessformation 50 provided at the upper end of the device 10. The narrowsides of elliptical formation 50 may he used for suspending a belt B,and a tie C, respectively. The users shoes S are supported by shoe rack62. Additional wire formation 52, shown in FTG. 11, is for the purposeof supporting a tray 64 having a plurality of compartments in which theuser can place such items as his cuff links, watch, wallet, etc. Seat12, obviously, is to permit the user to sit down when he is putting onor removing his shoes. Furthermore, seat 12 serves to prevent the shoesS, supported :by rack 62, from being accidentally kicked away.

When the need arises, the combination silent valet and seat inaccordance with the invention may be easily disassembled so as toprovide an ottoman. More specifically, the uprights 30 can easily bewithdrawn from supporting frame 14, thus leaving available an ottomanhaving an extremely pleasant appearance. In this connection a pair ofplugs may be provided for insertion in the open upper end of tubularlegs 18.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention iseminently well suited to accomplish all the previously statedobjectives. More specifically, the present invention provides acombination silent valet and seat wherein the silent valet part and theseat part cooperate with each other to provide an improved overallconstruction.

While We have shown and described the preferred embodiments of ourinvention, it will be understood that the invention maybe embodiedotherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and thatin the illustrated embodiment certain changes in the details ofconstruction and in the form and arrangement of parts may be madeWithout departing from the underlying idea or principles of thisinvention within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is:

l. A combination valet and seat comprising, a supporting frame having apair of front legs and a pair of rear legs, a seat mounted by said frontand rear legs with the rear edge of said seat being horizontally spacedfrom said rear legs to define a clearance between said seat and saidrear legs, said frame also mounting a valet member which includes at theupper part thereof jacket supporting means, said clearance being adaptedto receive the lower front part of a jacket supported by said valetmember to prevent said jacket from becoming creased, said valet membercomprising a pair of uprights in supporting engagement with andextending above said rear legs, respectively, and a continuous formationin supporting engagement with and extending above said uprights, saidcontinuous formation defining said jacket supporting means, saiduprights being easily disengageable from said rear legs whereby saidframe in combination with said seat defines an ottoman.

2. A combination valet and seat comprising, a supporting frame having apair of front legs, a pair of rear legs, a pair of side parts connectingthe rear legs to the front legs, respectively, at their lower ends, anda cross part connecting the upper ends of said front legs, a seatsecured at the front underside thereof to said cross part, securingmeans attached at one end thereof to the underside of said seat,projecting beyond the rear edge of said seat and secured at. the otherend thereof to said rear legs, whereby a clearance is defined betweenthe rear edge of said seat and said rear legs, said frame also mountinga valet member which includes at the upper part thereof jacketsupporting means, said clearance being adapted to receive the lowerfront part of a jacket supported by said valet member to prevent saidjacket from becoming creased, said valet member comprising a pair ofuprights in supporting engagement with and extending above said rearlegs, respectively, and a continuous formation in supporting engagementwith and extending above said uprights, said continuous formationdefining said jacket supporting means, said uprights being easilydisengageable from said rear legs whereby said 'frame in combinationwith said seat defines an ottoman.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS whatwe claim 178,439 Holtz et al. June 6, 1876 1,008,327 Hamilton Nov. 14,1911 1,163,038 Robertson Dec. 7, 1915 1,405,194 Ferdon Jan. 31, 19221,447,145 Morell Feb. 27, 1923 1,727,596 Hall Sept. 10, 1929 1,949,017Knupp Feb. 27, 1934 2,209,145 Weber July 23, 1940 2,262,581 'Gonczy Nov.11, 1941 2,613,735 Fisher Oct. 14, 1952 2,745,474 Blomq uist F, May 15,1956

1. A COMBINATION VALET AND SEAT COMPRISING, A SUPPORTING FRAME HAVING APAIR OF FRONT LEGS AND A PAIR OF REAR LEGS, A SEAT MOUNTED BY SAID FRONTLEGS AND REAR LEGS WITH THE REAR EDGE OF SAID SEAT BEING HORIZONTALLYSPACED FROM SAID REAR LEGS TO DEFINE A CLEARANCE BETWEEN SAID SEAT ANDSAID REAR LEGS, SAID FRAME ALSO MOUNTING A VALET MEMBER WHICH INCLUDESAT THE UPPER PART THEREOF JACKET SUPPORTING MEANS, SAID CLEARANCE BEINGADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE LOWER FRONT PART OF A JACKET SUPPORTED BY SAIDVALET MEMBER TO PREVENT SAID JACKET FROM BECOMING CREASED, SAID VALETMEMBER COMPRISING A PAIR OF UPRIGHTS IN SUPPORTING ENGAGEMENT WITH ANDEXTENDING ABOVE SAID REAR LEGS, RESPECTIVELY, AND A CONTINUOUS FORMATIONIN SUPPORTING ENGAGEMENT WITH AND EXTENDING ABOVE SAID UPRIGHTS, SAIDCONTINUOUS FORMATION DEFINING SAID JACKET SUPPORTING MEANS, SAIDUPRIGHTS BEING EASILY DISENGAGEABLE FROM SAID REAR LEGS WHEREBY SAIDFRAME IN COMBINATION WITH SAID SEAT DEFINES AN OTTOMAN.